The Internet is divided into a collection of autonomous systems, each autonomous system (“AS”) managed by an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) who operates a backbone network that connects to customers and other service providers. Large ISPs have few software systems and tools to support traffic measurement and network modeling, the underpinnings of effective traffic engineering. Seemingly simple questions about topology, traffic, and routing are surprisingly hard to answer in today's packet-switched networks. A tremendous amount of work has gone into developing mechanisms and protocols for controlling traffic. By comparison, little work has gone to support traffic measurement and network modeling in operational networks. Unfortunately, unless control mechanisms are driven by the appropriate measurements and understanding from well-tested models, the benefit of the controls will be limited.
Accordingly, there is a need for new systems and methods of measuring and modeling a packet-switched network that permit effective traffic engineering.